there is a difference between being a courier and being an agent. The fact checks are made to another company is irrelevent. When I sold real estate, the checks weren;t made to me yet I was required to be licensed. That is because my "job" was to sell real estate, whcih requires a license. I recieved no money from the person selling the house or the person buying the house. My payments were from the broker I was licensed under and based upon my contract with him. I was due my commission as long as I performed as contracted. If a buyer backed out of a contract, I was still due my commission because I had gotten a person to sign the sales contract. It did not change if my broker did not get paid. If my broker failed to pay me, my action was against him, not the buyer. HIS action was against the buyer.
OP is not collecting his fees from the customer as he does not get paid by the customer. He gets paid by his employer and as such, the contract between his employer and the customer has nothing to do with the OP other than that is where they get the amount to be paid to the OP.
So, being an IC performing what he does, and then being hired to collect for that company, is not legal unless he has the appropriate licensing. He is doing more than simply being asked to pick up the payment. He is being asked to actively make collection efforts.

